PEGI Becomes LAW in the UK!!!

PEGI Now LAW in the UK!!!

Well after four years of seeing the PEGI (Pan European Game Information) ratings appearing on many games like Assassins Creed, Call of Duty, Prototype and even Mario and Sonic the UK government has now made it LAW to govern games ratings in the UK. It also means ANYONE caught selling the game to underage people can and WILL be fined £5000 or even face 6 years in jail!!!

So alot of people (parents mainly) will go into a store and buy their kids games like Call of Duty and Assassins Creed clueless to the content in said games, Now they have NO excuse! As of today July 30th 2012 PEGI will replace the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) ratings on ALL games.

PEGI was brought in to make understanding the games content easier for all to understand BUT as it was not LAW no one took notice!!! Well as of today you will!!

So what are the things I should be looking for you ask?? Below is an image of ALL the PEGI icons that will appear on games as of today:

PEGI Icons

 The above icons are now the thing you should look for on the games you buy for yourselves and your kids!! They will appear on the front and back of the boxes. The black icons will more often than not appear on the games rated 12-18 and are fairly self explanatory! It's the colored ones I think ALOT of people (Mainly parents and youngsters) have the issues with.

So with that in mind I'm now about to put my rant hat on to explain these colored ones and what the REALLY mean to you and your kids.

Now before I go on I don't have kids (YET) but I know alot of kids playing games that they really should not be!! But even before PEGI was brought in I had always said my kids will NEVER play games like GTA or Call of Duty till they are old enough to understand the content in them. You can also think of the ratings as traffic lights.

What are the ratings?? and Can your kids play them??

PEGI 3 (Green)

 This is the lowest rating in PEGI's list, This basically the game is suitable for all over the age of 3 to play and the content in this game is easy to grasp and understand (Cartoon violence) and they should not really see the characters as if they are real life people, And yes your kids can play them anytime without worrying about what they could be learning.

PEGI 7 (Green)

Basically the same as the PEGI 3 rating BUT the games under this rating is aimed and geared for kids/big kids ;) from the age of 7 up. With slightly more content and at times more frighting scenes that younger kids may not like and more advanced it can be difficult for some kids under 7 to understand and play it but in the same as 3 you can leave them be with the games marked 7 :).

The next two ratings is where the BLACK PEGI icons would start coming in more often,

PEGI 12 (Yellow/Amber)

PEGI 12 games will show slightly more graphic violence (MILD) towards the human looking characters and not the fluffy little bunnies of the younger classifications, You may also find some nudity and some bad language you may not hear in the younger classifications.  

PEGI 16 (Yellow/Amber)

Now PEGI 16 games are as bad as they can be before the PEGI 18 rating once the violence and sexual activities look like they would in real life and with more extreme bad language than the PEGI 12 games and the depiction of crime and use of tobacco that you would not see in the other games.

PEGI 18 (Red)

 Now the PEGI 18 rating is fairly self explanatory basically 18 means 18!!! Blood, Guts, Drugs, Sex, Violence and more of the bad stuff I know I will never let my kids near in layman's terms kids aged 7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17 should NOT play games like this regardless weather they are sensible or not!! 

I was always brought up on the "anything bad you see or hear pay no attention to" speeches from my dad and my grandparents, and if the movie or game was an age rating older than I was i could not play or watch it!! So call me boring call me old fashioned but this is how my kids will be brought up!!!!

I think parents that buy these PEGI 18 games for their kids need to take a long hard look at themselves and stop and think "If i was their age would my mum/dad buy this for me??".

I will tell you a story I worked in a big games retailer when Call of Duty MW2 (About a week or two after to be exact) came out, and a kid came in with his mum he could not have been older than 10 years of age and was like " MUM MUM MUM Buy me Modern Warfare 2 PLEASE!!!" she came to me and said "Is this game suitable for my boy??" I said "In a word NO!! there are scenes although skip-able that are extremely unsuitable for him!!" say asked about the infamous "Airport mission" again I said "it is skip-able BUT I played it through to see what it was like and even i found it disturbing shooting innocent people and kids." I then said "is I had kids your boys age I would NOT even own this for myself as I feel its to violent for the kids" she then said thanks for your honesty and left!!

 So parents please take time to look at the icons before you buy the games for your kids!! I know this will not stop anyone from buying these games for their kids I don't expect it too but hopefully it will help you understand the PEGI ratings and the LAW it has come with!!! Yes I agree with the PEGI ratings and I'm glad they are now LAW.

For more on the PEGI ratings goto PEGI INFO SITE and give it a read it may even change your mind!!

Thanks for taking the time to read this :)

My Transformers Collection Series Part 1

The Autocons Will Rise ;)

As the title suggests this will be a post for my ever growing collection of Transformers toys and this will be the first part in the series. I have a decent collection ranging from Leader Class down to Legend Class. The blog series will take a detailed look into my entire collection as it stands at them moment and well into the future so read on and enjoy :).


So lets get the ball rolling on this one starting off with  leader and voyager class toys from the recent movies the first leader class is the only Transformers Animated toy I have:

Leader Animated Optimus Prime (Robot Mode) 

I got this one quite recently from a Jumble Sale (kind of like a garage sale) for next to nothing all the lights and sounds work well which is EPIC only major drawback is the lack of his axe/hammer weapon :( but can't have them all.

Leader Animated Optimus Prime (Alt Mode)

As you can see from this shot I think there is a piece missing that goes over his head (Could be wrong tho) but besides that he's in cracking shape! The only reason I have included him in this load is because he is a Leader Class so yeah.

Now on to the recent movie-verse toys (Leader Class wise) and lets continue with the Primes:

Optimus Prime ROTF Leader Class (Robot Mode)

 This was my first leader class toy and I got him for 25£ from my local Tesco's store (where I get most if not all my toys) and as you see it is the one with the Energon blades, I love this toy to bits as it is one of the first ones I got for my "Revived" collection :).

Optimus Prime ROTF Leader Class (Alt Mode)

Love the alt mode on this toy looks really nice and very VERY detailed! Again all the lights and sounds work would just be nice if he said more than "I am Optimus Prime" lol.

Next leader class toy is another prime:

Sentinel Prime Leader Class DOTM (Robot Mode)

Now I love this toy but it has been the bane of my collection since I got it for my birthday back in 2011 off of  a mate (@Ghostlytoast) who is also the owner of Not Quite Prime Blog reason I say this is the first and only time I have managed to get him into his alt mode was for this blog post today because his feet are a pain in the ass to get into position and gave up first time round almost 8 months ago.

Sentinel Prime Leader Class DOTM (Alt mode)

This will most likely be the last time you see this toy in alt mode but it looks awesome in his alt mode with working lights and sounds and very movie accurate (Apart from the voice lol) :).

Sticking with toys that where given to me as gifts the next toy was also from @Ghostlytoast:

Ironhide Leader Class DOTM (Robot Mode)

This was given to my as an Xmas gift in 2011 by the same guy as Sentinel! There are two downsides to this toy in my opinion 1) his legs are an awful blue colour (I assume that the primer colour before the main paint is applied) and 2) his head does not move!! But those 2 issues aside it is an awesome toy.

Ironhide Leader Class DOTM (Alt Mode)

Again very nice movie accurate alt mode, there are one or two clunky bits but as it is only a toy (and not the real deal sadly) that's to be expected. With working lights and sounds this makes this one of the prides of my collection.

The final leader class toy in this run is my favorite character from this series of movies and it is the "Leader" of my Beehive!

Bumblebee Leader Class DOTM (Robot Mode)

I love this toy and it was the first toy I got from the DOTM line and he has never really in alt mode much at all as it looks kick ass.

Bumblebee Leader Class DOTM (Alt Mode) With Jetpack/Weapons in Background

Again looks really nice and is the most accurate of the leader class toys from the line I love the alt more too as i love the Camaro SS to bits.

Now on to the movie-verse voyager class toys I have starting with:

Shockwave Voyager Class DOTM (Robot Mode)

I love this toy sooooooo much for two reasons 1) it is so movie accurate (I think) it hurts and 2) he's purple xD the only major drawback in this one for a voyager class toy he is bloody tiny closer to a deluxe size toy than a voyager, but with that said it is still an ass kicking toy.

Shockwave Voyager Class DOTM (Alt Mode)

Now to be totally honest we do not see an alt mode for Shockwave in DOTM but I think this is his Cybertronion tank alt mode not 100% sure tho.

Last but by no means the least is the last toy in my Leader/Voyager class movie-verse part of my collection and that is the Autobot medic:

Ratchet Voyager Class ROTF (Robot Mode)

 This Ratchet is from the ROTF line of toys and is the night ops hunt for the decepticons paint job black and green. It actually looks really nice I like it more than the normal paint job Ratchet. He was actually a fluke find in Tesco not long before the DOTM toys came out and as you can see compared to Shockwave it looks alot bigger.

Ratchet Voyager Class ROTF (Alt Mode)

  This shot is where the "Re-paint" shines and as you can see it looks very very badass.

Anyway that about does it for the Leader/Voyager Class toys (Movie-verse atleast) just to finish off heres a group shot of the toys:

Group Shot

 Sorry for the long ass blog but if you have read the whole thing then thank you so much! Just want to take time to thank everyone that reads my blogs it may not be huge numbers but I appreciate it all the same. Watch this space for more of my collection series over the coming weeks and months.

UBI Goodies :)

So about a month or so ago Ubi-Reflections gained 2000 likes on their Facebook page and it was between myself and another chap on twitter as to who got the 2000th like. So what Ubi asked us to have a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors which the other chap won (I will put his twitter name at the bottom of this post).

But Ubi-Reflections were feeling generous and decided to send us both some goodies :). So after almost a month (At a rant at Royal Mail) I finally received my goodies after they had to send me another set of goodies so without further ado here is what I got!

Got home from a job interview today and found this lying open on the table (Missus was being nosy lol)

The box my goodies game in! (Quite Large)

This is what was inside:

Goodies

So as you can see got a fairly decent haul from them and I love it all so lets take a closer look at the goodies.

Staring with:

Business card and compliments thingy and a 4gb USB Flash Drive! 

Next Up:

A very nice notebook with a few images from Ubi games like Rayman and Rainbow six

The book is even more awesome thanks to these cover images (Front and back inside):

Ezio & Altiar (Front inside cover)

Same Guys different image (Back cover Inside) 

As you can see very nice :) Next up:

Drinks bottle which is white normally but needed a juice lol

It is a really nice bottle non drip and everything :). Next:

A very nice Ubi Branded Mug 

Square in shape and made with 100% recycled plastic love the color too :). 

The next one is a small invasion:

Raving Rabbits :P

 All different and will find a home on my shelf somewhere :)

The next item I instantly fell in love with:

A Ubi branded console/manbag xD

 It is a really nice bag and it is like the bloody tardis lol it has like 19 pockets in it :O

And Finally:

"DID I EVER TELL YOU THE DEFINITION OF INSANITY" (FarCry 3)

You will have seen hints of this t-shirt through out the images! The game its from Is FarCry 3 (thanks to a mate on Facebook) its awesomeness :) it has a hangman's noose round the neck and back area looks really nice!

Well guys that's your lot today if you want to keep up with the folks at Ubi-Reflections hit up the following links:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Ubisoft.Reflections

Twitter: @UbiReflections https://twitter.com/#!/UbiReflections

And the other chap that got goodies is worth a follow too :) find him here: https://twitter.com/#!/norninja 

@norninja.


Thanks for reading guys and see you soon :)